Fred Kendal - May 25, 1983

Reactions of the Ukrainian Civilians

The Ukrainian farmers--the people who lived around the forest um, by and large, how did they react to you? I mean was the feeling generally sympathetic or was it--how was it generally?

By and large, it was hostile. By and large, it was hostile. There were the few they were sympathetic. There were the few that were religious and through their religion they, they were sympathetic and helpful, in particular, the one that was the Seventh Day Adventist. We--like I say that man risked his life to help and to save Jewish people. I mean, he went out of his way to do it. He would search for the Jewish people and he would know where he could take them to join up with others that were in hiding and he was one of the few you know that was very sympathetic. But, by and large, I would say that they were not. And, now again, a lot of it is from the--from what I--the feelings that you get in the community and in hiding you know and, so on and so forth. My grandfather and my uncles had a special relationship with a lot of these people that they knew them from many, many years and my grandfather, being a merchant--a cattle merchant, in particular, and they knew him as being the honest, the honest Jew, you know. If he said something his word was binding, you know, and lot of the farmers had a lot of respect for my grandfather.